A Blackhawk helicopter lands during the Karbala handover ceremony
That mock raid was part of the ceremony formally handing over security duties from the coalition to Iraqi security forces today in Karbala, the eighth province that has been handed over to government control so far. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of Multi-National Division-Center, watched the parade of goose-stepping soldiers and cops, even a group of policewomen decked out in black abayas, at a sports stadium in the city. The speeches were predictably upbeat: Maliki highlighted reconciliation efforts and predicted that Iraqis would soon take the lead in securing the country. “Iraq will emerge from the chaos,” he said.
But is Karbala ready for the big handover? Last week Iraqi security forces shut down the main roads into the city as militia elements shot it out near the city center, and there were reports of a car bomb in the city yesterday. In late August fighting during the Shaabaniya religious festival, which commemorates the birthday of the 12th Shia imam, left dozens of people dead and hundreds wounded. Today’s ceremony took place with layer on layer of Iraqi and American security: Humvees, Riva armored vehicles and snipers posted on every tall building for at least a mile or two around the stadium. For good measure a couple of helicopters circled the stadium during the entire two-hour ceremony. Some of the overeager Iraqi security guards even insisted on disarming American soldiers before letting them near the VIP tent where Maliki was sitting. Still, Gen. Lynch reassured Iraqi officials in his speech. “We’re only a phone call away,” he said.
The violence in Karbala has disturbing long-term implications for Iraq as a whole and the south of the country in particular: Shias are killing Shias. The attacks during the Shaabaniya festival are largely blamed on elements of the Mahdi Army, led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; the bulk of the security forces in the city are loyal to their rivals, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) or Maliki’s Dawa party. Abu Aqil, a policeman who participated in today’s ceremony, was caught up in the clashes last August. He says the attacks were well coordinated. Groups of young men with hidden weapons poured into the courtyard between the shrines of Hussein and Abbas, two of Shia Islam’s most holy sites, and began shooting at the shrine guards as well as local security forces. They were chanting slogans praising Sadr. “We defended the shrines, but a lot of pilgrims were wounded,” says Abu Aqil, who lost a cousin in the fighting. There has been a lot of intra-Shiite violence in the south, particularly in Basra, but these clashes in the holiest city on one of the holiest religious occasions were deeply embarrassing for the community as a whole. Sadr publicly called for his followers to lay down their arms afterward.
That call for a ceasefire may have contributed to the relative calm at today’s handover ceremony. At one point during the procession, a handful of policemen marched by carrying a large banner touting the ministry of the interior’s work for all Iraqis. On the far side of the stadium, a much larger billboard showed the picture of cleric Mohammed Baqer Hakim, once the leader of SIIC and Sadr’s rival. Hakim was killed in a car bomb attack in Najaf in 2003. No one can say when those party posters will come down.
